the red pill or the blue pill?

[NitDawg]

So I finished my new ITX build over the weekend to replace my aging ITX box. I think its pretty sweet for my needs:

ASUS H87I-PLUS, 8GB DDR3, i3-4330, Notcua NH-L12, 120 GB SSD (OS drive), 2 GB 2.5″ WD Green, PC-Q12B Lian Li case. I use 2 OTA network tuners and 3 CC network tuners and have 12 TB NAS with media an whatnot. The HTPC unit I am replacing is used primarily on my family room TV, running WMC on Win7. I use one 360 extender and run plex media server to serve up movie on my NAS to iPADs, etc. 

I’m ditching a removable media drive, which on my old box is a blu-ray drive. I’m just getting a standalone blu-ray player.

But I’m sitting here with two thumb drives with Win7x64 and Win8x64pro trying to decide if I should fire up Windows 8, 8.1 and give WMC a try or just go back to my default Win7 deployment. In the past, I’ve always liked to tinker with new shiny things, but my Win7 setup has always been a stable setup…just needed a new hardware refresh, hence the new build, and I got some crazy good Black Friday/Monday deals.

So which pill do I choose???

I’m tempted just to give Win8 a spin on the new box while my old box still pulls its usual duty for the time being. On the other hand, I could configure Win7 on my new box and call it a day.

Or I’ll open another beer and worry about it tomorrow 😉

Anyways, that’s my new toy. A nice matte black box (I have to admit, this case is really nice) begging for an OS.

 

[mikinho]

Do you use Extenders? If so, Windows 7. Otherwise I’d go with Windows 8.1

You can add some decent remote friendly metro apps to your Start Menus strip for more modermrecent 10-ft experience like Netflix, Hulu, etc. Some take a bit of work to make remote friendly but nothing too crazy.

[NitDawg]

I use an xbox 360 on a second TV from time to time…do they still work as extenders via Win 8.1 or are they only supported in Win7?

Thanks Michael!

[mikinho]

The 360 is the only one that shows the UI.  It has some bugs and is a bit slower in Windows 8.1.

[NitDawg]

Gotcha. I still may give 8.1 a shot to play with. Too bad the extender option has some issues.

Happy Holidays to you Michael and all the MR crew!

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